


Don’t Forget

by CoyoteGhost



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Emotional Hurt, Guilt, Heavy Angst, Hurt No Comfort, M/M, Nightmares, just a lot of angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-08
Updated: 2019-03-08
Packaged: 2019-11-13 20:00:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 850
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18037961
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CoyoteGhost/pseuds/CoyoteGhost
Summary: The dream was always short, and without fail, it was always the same. If only it could’ve been different.





	Don’t Forget

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, because three in the fuckin’ morning is the PERFECT time to write some angst

_Click_

 

_Fire_

 

_Darkness_

 

Jesse ran a trembling hand through his hair, and his face contorted in disgust at the sweat that threatened to fall onto his face. The dream was always short, and without fail, it was always the same. It never deviated from its chosen path.

 

It was such a simple dream with no hidden meaning, but every night that he dreamt it, it caused his body to convulse. Waves of agony plagued him until the very moment he jolted awake. Even then, it lingered.

 

“Are you alright, Jesse?”

 

He didn’t know what was worse: the hellish nightmare or Gabriel’s concern.

 

Without answering, Jesse kicked the sheets off of his clammy skin and pressed his back against the frigid wall. He just needed to breathe, to calm himself down with the knowledge that he was safe. Nothing would hurt him here. Gabriel always made sure of that.

 

It wasn’t that he didn’t appreciate Gabriel. Quite the contrary. Though Jesse’s heart ached unbearably in his chest, the lingering pain in his body and mind always eased whenever Gabriel would care for him. That simple fact held true as the man carefully did as Jesse had done; he didn’t remove the sheets (the room _was_ a bit chilly), but he did sit up and rest against the wall. Jesse allowed Gabriel to pull his body close.

 

“Same dream?” he asked, and Jesse carefully nodded as Gabriel drew him farther into his arms. He let himself tuck his head under Gabriel’s chin. “I’m so sorry. For all of this. I just- I hate to see you in so much pain.”

 

Jesse breathed a humorless laugh. With ever-shaking hands, he allowed himself to touch just above Gabriel’s heart. Its steady rhythm, like the dream, never changed.

 

“Don’t beat yourself up,” Jesse murmured. “My brain’s just a little stuck right now. All of this... it ain’t your fault.”

 

Jesse felt Gabriel’s grip tighten. From beneath his fingers, the perfect pulse did the one thing that it wasn’t supposed to do.

 

It changed.

 

That wasn’t normal. Gabriel was always a reassuring constant in the nightmarish chaos, and to have his heart beat like a war drum was concerning to say the least. Jesse supposed he had also shattered the ritual as well. He never spoke a word after his awakening. He just didn’t really have the energy to, so he let Gabriel do all the talking until they both fell back asleep. Jesse felt that overwhelming exhaustion wash over him as his eyes slowly shut.

 

In his last moments awake, Jesse swore he felt cold droplets fall silently onto his skin.

 

 

————

 

 

Gabriel forcefully wiped away the tears that trickled down his scarred flesh. He didn’t even think he could cry anymore.

 

“It’s selfish to keep him alive, Gabriel. You know this.”

 

Moira spoke the truth that Gabriel refused to hear, and the urge to scream every profane thing he’d ever known nearly overcame him. It was only when he looked at the body laying prone in front of him that he reclaimed his self-control. He had to stay calm.

 

Gabriel never wanted to expose Jesse to the hellish world he lived in. He never wanted Jesse to be wounded by his actions ever again, but the moment he found the man bleeding out in the unforgiving darkness, he took his body and ran.

 

Moira said it was too late. She told him that no matter how many resources Talon was willing to use, Jesse was too far gone; the single source keeping him alive were the tendrils of blackened smoke that invaded every inch of his being.

 

Gabriel was the only thing that kept Jesse’s heart from stopping.

 

It was horribly selfish to force Jesse to suffer. What was even crueler, what was completely, irredeemably unforgivable, was the single dream that Gabriel had let Jesse have. He allowed the man to return to simpler days, to when Blackwatch had been both of their homes. It was there that Jesse’s memories were the kindest. Gabriel could never stop Jesse from the agony his physical body felt, but when the convulsions were too strong, when his heart threatened to give out, Gabriel quietly slipped into Jesse’s broken mind. Anything to sooth the pain.

 

Gabriel felt that his actions had finally caught up with him the moment Jesse had spoken. He so desperately wanted to believe that Jesse was getting stronger, that his body was finally fixing itself, but Gabriel knew otherwise. The man only spoke because his heart had finally given out, and Gabriel forced himself to sacrifice every drop of life he could give just to restart it. 

 

“You need to let him go, Gabriel,” Moira reiterated. She was by no means sympathetic, but the softness in her voice was oddly close. “You can’t keep him alive forever. Nobody can.”

 

The moment she left the room, Gabriel reached over and gently grasped Jesse’s hand, running his thumb over the sun-kissed skin that he so selfishly loved. He couldn’t keep Jesse alive forever, no, but until Gabriel’s own body faded away, he sure as hell would try.

**Author's Note:**

> I’m not entirely sure why I like to throw these guys onto the pain train, it just kinda happens


End file.
